JOSE RAMOS-HORTA PREVIEWS CTF REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L DILI 000183

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/14/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL TT
SUBJECT: JOSE RAMOS-HORTA PREVIEWS CTF REPORT

CLASSIFIED BY: Hans Klemm, Ambassador, EXEC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b)


1. (C) President Jose Ramos-Horta called the Ambassador into his
office July 14 to preview his government's reaction to the
Commission on Truth and Friendship (CTF) report to be released
on July 15. President Ramos Horta described the report as
"quite good," while acknowledging that senior officers in the
Indonesian military have not accepted personal responsibility
for their actions in 1999. Nevertheless, the commission
concluded that the Indonesian military as an institution bears
overall responsibility for the breakdown of security in
Timor-Leste in 1999 and the violence that followed. The report
should also be welcomed as it will represent the first
expression of remorse by the Indonesians, said President Ramos
Horta.


2. (C) The President noted that Timor-Leste will accept
collective responsibility for actions committed by East Timorese
in 1999. The President stressed that there is no talk of
financial compensation for Indonesia's actions. For
Timor-Leste, the President said, the commission report
represents the "end of the process for 1999." He summarized
that the combination of the domestic CAVR Report released in
2006 that documented violence that occurred between 1974 and
1999, and the bi-national CTF report will enable Timor-Leste to
"close the chapter" on the 1974-1999 period.


3. (C) President Ramos-Horta stated that he has no expectation
that the report will lead to trials of senior officials in
Indonesia. For him personally he sees that the injustice that
occurred during the Indonesian occupation was resolved in 1999
with the departure of Indonesia. The President said it is now
important to honor the victims of that era by building a free,
democratic and prosperous Timor-Leste. Hopes for anything more
would be unrealistic.


4. (C) The President told the Ambassador that he will insist
that the report be made publicly available right away. The
report will include follow-up recommendations and he expects a
bilateral task force to be established. The President said he
hopes the U.S. will receive the report with understanding, and
that the U.S. will praise it for the progress it makes toward
accountability and reconciliation. In more practical terms, the
President said he now seeks quick progress on normalizing the
movement of people and goods across Timor's borders with
Indonesia. In particular, he hopes for the early establishment
of document-free passage between the enclave of Oecusse and the
Timorese mainland.


5. (C) The Ambassador, while noting that the U.S. has not seen
or read the CTF report outlined our likely reaction based on the
Department's contingency guidance. Noting that we are the very
first to see it, the President provided the Ambassador a copy of
the speech he will deliver in Denpasar on July 15 when the
report is delivered to him and the Indonesian president. We
will send a copy to EAP/MTS and Embassy Jakarta by email.

KLEMM